An Unexpected Journey
by MaddHatta21
Summary: I never asked to be thrown into the path of Thorin Oakenshield; I never ASKED to babysit a hobbit or deal with moody, overbearing, arrogant, human hating, dwarf kings, but whether I like it or not, my way home is through miles of mountain and armies of orcs. There's no way I'm attempting that journey on my own.


The journey began on a cool and rainy day. I had forgotten my umbrella, and found myself soaking wet as I ran for shelter. The street was busy, and between the roaring of thunder in the distance and the sounds of heavy traffic, it was difficult to hear my name being called. I looked up, shielding my eyes from the onslaught of heavy rain,to glimpse a familair face across the street. Holly Hebert and I had become fast friends, since our meeting the year before. We had many things in common, at this particular moment we both seemed to be seeking shelter from the raging storm. I began my trek across the flooded street carefully, I looked both ways and saw that I had enough time between cars. Holly awaited me, shivering with cold and shifting from one soggy foot to the other. I felt it then, as I stepped into the median between lanes, something in the air shifted. For a moment all seemed well, and then, with a great CRACK, my view of Holly fractured. At the very same instantace, the ground trembled and I found myself thrown forward; directly into the headlights of an oncoming vehicle. Time seemed to slow as the headlights moved towards me,and I fell in agonizingly slow motion. I could make out the sky blue color of the minivan, the terrified face of the older woman behind the wheel. My eyes were heavy as I closed them, awaiting the impact, and death. I fell, heavily. The thick taste of sand filled my mouth and I began to sputter, scrambling up so quickly that my head spun. Sinking back to my knees dizzily, I pressed a hand to my temple, when my equalibrium balanced out, I opened my eyes. The sun was blazing, warming my pale skin and blinding me to my surroundings. I could feel sand beneath me. My heart began to pound, and as my vision cleared I scrambled backwards. There was no highway, no car, no buildings. In fact, the horizon line was clear of anything that signafied any sort of civilization. This was not my home. This was not where I was supposed to be. I attempted to rationalize, perhaps I was dead. Perhaps THIS was heaven. It looked and felt, a great deal more like some sort of Purgatory. The beating sound of hoof beats pounded in my ears. I very suddenly felt the need to hide. I pulled myself up, on shaking knees, and began the frantic search for some place to hide. I had just spotted a large boulder, when the horses and thier riders were upon me. Someone shouted out in a language I could not placeand I found myself staring down a number of bows and arrows. I froze, breath hitching in my throat as the voice from before called out once more. I turned my head, warily in the direction of the speaker, keeping the archers in my periphreal vision. A tall lanky man climbed down off his horse. He moved with such grace, that I could not take my eyes off of him. From his booted feet, all the way to the intricately woven sliver crown on his head, the man radiated regality. As he approached the archers became noticably more intent on shooting me. The tall dark-haired man spoke, meeting my eyes with such stern-ness that I immediatley felt tat arrows were not the worst thing that could happen to me if I screwed up. Still, I hesitated to move, fearing that even the slightest movement might cause them to loose thier arrows. I spoke, nervously, "I-I don't understand what you are saying." Without really intending to, I found my gaze drifting passed the man's long dark hair to his ears. They were odd, and pointy. Something ningled at the back of my mind. "My question was 'Why are you here?'" Something about the way his eyebrows furrowed made me feel more at ease. I realized, quite suddenly however, that I had no idea why I was whereever it was that I was, or even any idea where 'here' happened to be. I answered him honestly, still all too aware of the arrows pointing in my direction. "I do not know where I am. One moment I was crossing the road in the rain, and the next I was here." He gave me a strange look, as if he was trying to decided if my words were the truth. After a long moment he seemed to relax, he called out an order, raising one hand gently toward the archers. They hesitantly stepped back, and after a moment lowered their weapons. "Your appearance confirms your story, little one." I released a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding, as the man offered me his hand. "Tell me, what do you call yourself?" I blinked, and slowly reached out to take the pro-offered hand, with a wary glance at the twitchy archers. "My name is Sarah." I swallowed nervously, but the man tilted his head in acknowledgement. "I am lord Elrond of Rivendell. If you would like, you may ride with us to our home, where dry clothes and a warm meal could be arranged for you." I hesitated to accept the offer. While I would very much have enjoyed the thought of dry clothes and something to eat, leaving could prevent me from ever returning to my home planet or whate- ELROND. He said his name was ELROND. Elrond of RIVENDELL. I felt my entire body freeze, and my head swiveled around, taking in all of the faces around me. Long blonde hair, blue eyes, pointed ears, intricate curling designs on thier armor and weapons. Elves. All of them were ELVES. "Is something wrong?" I turned my gaze back to Lord Elrond, and resisted the urge to jerk my hand from his grasp. My breath began to come in short bursts, and I felt myself stumble backwards briefly before regaining my balance. This couldn't be real. I was dreaming, or dead, or unconcious or something! I began to panic, the world suddenly shaking all around me and spiraling out of control. "Lady Sarah?" My eyes snapped back to the Elven king, and suddenly everything seemed to balance out. He seemed somewhat concerned, and his gaze flickered briefly in the direction of his archers. Out of the corner of my eye I saw them lower thier weapons once more. I thought over my options for a moment, staring the taller fellow directly in the eyes. I pinched myself, and instantly winced at the sharp pain it caused. 'Not a dream then.' I could leave with Elrond, and lose my way back home; or I could stay here and find it...or be killed by orcs or giants or something worse. I shuddered, and glanced around, looking for some sign of how I had arrived in this place. There was no visible sign that anything unusual had happened here at all, save for my frantic tracks in the sand and a large puddle of water beneath my feet. I raised my head after a moment, "If it is alright with you, I will accept your offer." ~*~ 


End file.
